Habitats of polar bears are expected to shrink dramatically over the coming decades, the International Union for Conservation of Nature warned Thursday, urging immediate action to save the Arctic animals.

"A study by IUCN predicts a dramatic reduction in polar bear habitats over the next 10 to 50 years, due largely to global warming," said the conservation group in a statement.

The IUCN noted that annual sea ice is expected to shrink between 10 and 50 percent by 2100, due to climate change.

A recent study has also projected that summer sea ice would be gone in as early as a decade's time, said the environmental group.

"Now is the time to act in order to save the waning polar bear population," said Dag Vongraven, who chairs the IUCN's polar bear group.

"If we fail to make a stand to save this species, we risk having the population become severely decimated, and quite certainly they will have disappeared from many areas where they're found today," he added.

CryoSat rocking and rollingParis (ESA) Oct 19, 2011ESA's ice satellite is rolling left and right in orbit to help it continue its precise measurements of the vast ice sheets that blanket Greenland and Antarctica. Since its launch 18 months ago, CryoSat-2 has been collecting data to improve our understanding of the relationship between ice and climate. Just this year, the first map of Arctic sea-ice thickness was unveiled, and the satellite will ... read more

The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency.
All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement